FRANCE COACH PHILIPPE Saint-André has announced a team showing seven changes for Saturday’s Six Nations encounter with Scotland at Murrayfield.
Following the 27-6 defeat to Wales on February the 21st, Saint-André has brought in Maxime Mermoz, Sébastien Vahaamahina and Brice Mach with Wesley Fofana, Yannick Nyanga and Dimitri Szarzewski all injured.
And with Wenceslas Lauret, Jean-Marc Doussain and Hugo Bonneval omitted, there are starts for Alexandre Lapandry at openside, Maxime Machenaud at scrum-half and Maxime Médard on the wing.
Saint-André will hope the alterations help his side get back to the form that saw them beat England and Italy in their opening two games of the Six Nations campaign at the Stade de France.
“Some of the changes are due to injuries like those of Dimitri Szarsewski, Yannick Nyanga, Wesley Fofana. But when you leave out some of those who had been starting, it is either a punishment due to their performances or their lack of self-control,” commented the coach at a press conference.
“The performance of the players needs to be called into question and we are expecting a response so that our supporters can be proud of their team at Murrayfield.
“We can still win the tournament, which a lot of people forget.”
Saint-André was again highly critical of his team’s showing against Wales and underlined the importance of showing respect to the referee following Picamoles’ misdemeanour in Cardiff.
“Our sport is about combat but we must also respect the referee’s decisions, regardless of whether they are good or bad.
“We had too many crybabies [in Cardiff], too many players who spoke and made things difficult for the captain Pascal Papé.
“On Saturday, Pascal will be allowed to speak to the referee but the other 14 must work for the team and maintain their self-control.”
France (v Scotland): Brice Dulin; Yoann Huget, Mathieu Bastareaud, Maxime Mermoz, Maxime Médard; Jules Plisson, Maxime Machenaud; Thomas Domingo, Brice Mach, Nicolas Mas; Pascal Pape (capt.), Yoann Maestri; Sebastien Vahaamahina, Alexandre Lapandry, Damien Chouly.
Replacements: Guilhem Guirado, Vincent Debaty, Rabah Slimani, Alexandre Flanquart, Antoine Claassen, Jean-Marc Doussain, Remi Tales, Gael Fickou.
Seven changes for France as Saint-André makes controversial calls
FRANCE COACH PHILIPPE Saint-André has announced a team showing seven changes for Saturday’s Six Nations encounter with Scotland at Murrayfield.
Following the 27-6 defeat to Wales on February the 21st, Saint-André has brought in Maxime Mermoz, Sébastien Vahaamahina and Brice Mach with Wesley Fofana, Yannick Nyanga and Dimitri Szarzewski all injured.
In addition, Damien Chouly starts at no. 8 with Louis Picamoles dropped for sarcastically applauding Irish referee Alain Rolland when he was sin-binned against Wales.
And with Wenceslas Lauret, Jean-Marc Doussain and Hugo Bonneval omitted, there are starts for Alexandre Lapandry at openside, Maxime Machenaud at scrum-half and Maxime Médard on the wing.
Saint-André will hope the alterations help his side get back to the form that saw them beat England and Italy in their opening two games of the Six Nations campaign at the Stade de France.
“The performance of the players needs to be called into question and we are expecting a response so that our supporters can be proud of their team at Murrayfield.
“We can still win the tournament, which a lot of people forget.”
Saint-André was again highly critical of his team’s showing against Wales and underlined the importance of showing respect to the referee following Picamoles’ misdemeanour in Cardiff.
“Our sport is about combat but we must also respect the referee’s decisions, regardless of whether they are good or bad.
“We had too many crybabies [in Cardiff], too many players who spoke and made things difficult for the captain Pascal Papé.
“On Saturday, Pascal will be allowed to speak to the referee but the other 14 must work for the team and maintain their self-control.”
- © AFP, 2014
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